Lockney Christian College (5): The James L. German Years

By the time he came to Lockney, not yet thirty years old, German had already traveled widely and established a strong record of academics and service to the church. He was a graduate of Grayson College in Texas, and later attended both the Nashville Bible School and the University of Chicago. He helped to establish Southwestern Christian College in Denton, Texas, and served on the school's board of regents. For two years, he taught languages at Southwestern, working there during the presidency of A. G. Freed. In addition, he was the song leader for T. B. Larimore during his evangelistic tour of Canada.[1] In at least one gospel meeting, during the summer of 1906, for two weeks, German preached twice a day and led the singing.[2]

As president of Lockney Christian College, German set out to reach at least two goals. He wanted to strengthen the faculty and to make at least part of the school a true college. These goals were now possible, necessary, and compelling. They were possible because for over a decade, starting at the elementary level, the school had been developing a group of students who were now prepared to do college work. The goals were necessary because as the State of Texas developed its public colleges, the growing competition in higher education now meant that the school at Lockney had to either keep up or abandon the idea of being a college. Finally, German's goals were compelling because secularized public schools in America typically did not teach the Bible. Where they did teach the Bible, to quote Lockney's catalog, they sowed "the seeds of infidelity . . . in the hearts of our boys and girls."[3] According to the school's leaders, the best practice was to teach the Bible in a non-sectarian way. Moral teaching should come by

a study of God's Word - getting the student to think God' thoughts. We purpose to teach no sectarian doctrine, but desire to impress what is written only. The college is not a 'preacher factory'; but we help all to teach and preach in private and public and we assist young men to qualify themselves for the ministry of the Word.[4]

During the three full years of President German's administration, from 1909 to 1911, enrollment levels remained steady with 129, 139, and 136 students. More significantly, during those years Lockney Christian began issuing bachelors degrees in six of the eight disciplines in their college curriculum. And, in much the same way that old Bethany College taught the Bible yet had no School of Theology, Lockney issued no Bachelor of Bible degree. Also by this time, the school's third building to serve as the main facility was now a two-story concrete block structure, 85 by 90 feet.[5] It seems that in many ways the German administration was the high-water mark in the history of the school.

Notes

[1] Robert M. Platt, "History of Lockney Christian College," 24-25. On Grayson College, see Donald W. Whisenhunt, Encyclopedia of Texas Colleges and Universities (Austin, TX: Eakin Press, 1986), 55. On Southwestern Christian College, see the brief entry for "Clebarro College" in Whisenhunt, 32. A more extensive overview of the history of Southwestern Christian College can be found in M. Norvel Young, A History of Colleges Established and Controlled by Members of the Churches of Christ (Kansas City, MO: Old Paths Book Club, 1949), 161-64.

[2] James L. German, Jr., "Texas," Gospel Advocate (August 16, 1906), 525.

[3] Platt, "History of Lockney Christian College," 25-28. For important insights on the historical context discussed here, see Whisenhunt, Encyclopedia of Texas Colleges and Universities, iii-iv.

[4] Catalogue of Lockney College and Bible School, Sixteenth Session, 1910-11 (Lockney, TX: Beacon Prose, 1910), 7-8, as quoted in Platt, "History of Lockney Christian College," 28.

[5] Platt, "History of Lockney Christian College," 30-31.